Download FOURTH TO SEVENTH CENTURIES Part Three

FOURTH TO SEVENTH CENTURIES
Part Three: Fall of Rome and Rise of the Western Church
In this article, we will look at:
Roman Empire whose existence can be traced to
27BC.
Leo the Great (440-­‐461) • The barbarians and their impact on the Empire
and Christianity
• Pope Leo the Great
• Clovis’ role in the conversion of the barbarians
• Justinian, the last strong emperor
• Pope Gregory the Great
• The rise of Islam and its consequences for
Christianity
With the sacking of Rome in 410 and the progressive
crumbling of the Roman Empire in the West, a
vacuum of leadership is created. Gradually, the
Church will begin to fill that vacuum because it is the
one stable and generally respected institution that can
provide governance. The office of the pope, the
bishop of Rome, will assume increasing importance.
The Church is a human institution living in every age
in a particular society. It is impacted by events
happening in the world. For example, in the first
three centuries of its existence, persecutions are the
principal external force impacting the Church. In the
fourth, fifth and sixth centuries, the invasion of tribes,
called the barbarians, impacts Christianity, as does
the rise of Islam.
Leo the Great—or Leo I as he was known during his
years as pope—is destined to become one of the great
popes in the history of the Church. He is one of two
popes on whom history bestows the title “Great,”
because he is a man of courage, wisdom and
authority. He will be mainly remembered for three
achievements.
In our own time, the Church is challenged by the
pervasiveness of a secular culture often hostile to
Christian values, and by modern technology. In the
United States, the face of Catholicism is changing
with the growing number of Hispanic people.
• In 452 when the horrible Attila and his Huns are
set to invade Rome, Leo, unarmed, goes out to meet
him and somehow persuades him to hold back. A
few years later, he is not as successful when the
Vandals come to attack Rome. While Leo cannot
prevent the Vandals from looting and taking slaves,
he is able to persuade them not to kill unless attacked
and not to destroy the great churches of St. Peter, St.
Paul and the Lateran Church.
The barbarians Barbarian is the name given to a diverse group of
tribes, some of whom took over the Western Empire
in the fifth century. The Romans call them
“barbarians” because they speak no Latin or Greek,
are not educated and often plunder villages, cities and
churches in their attempt to take them over. The
names of the tribes we most often hear of are the
Goths, Visigoths, Huns, Vandals, Lombards, Franks,
Vikings, Angles and Saxons.
• During Leo’s time, the stature of the papacy grows
enormously. The fact that the emperor has to depend
on the pope to defend Rome against the barbarians
gives rise to Leo’s position as one of the key figures
in almost all government matters within the Western
Empire. Through his writings, Leo is able to use
biblical, historical and legal arguments to assert the
primacy of the pope among all bishops.
During the troubled third century, many barbarians
are invited to settle on vacated lands within the
empire. Many of them serve in the Roman army.
With the decline of the Roman army, some of the
tribes start to take over parts of the empire.
• For his role in the Council of Chalcedon, as noted
in the last article, Leo’s famous letter called the Tome
is fundamental in the Council debates on the question
of protecting the Church from Monophysitism (doctrine that rejects the dual nature of Christ). After
Leo’s Tome is read, the bishops cry out: “This is the
faith of the Church. Peter has spoken through Leo.”
The bishops recognize the special role of the bishop
of Rome in the governance of the Church.
In 410 Visigoth leader Alaric ransacks Rome, an
event that sends shockwaves throughout the Empire.
In 455 the city of Rome falls to the barbarians. In
476 barbarian leader Odoacer deposes the last Roman
emperor Romulus. The year 476 marks the end of the
1 5 Clovis’ (470-­‐510) role in the conversion of the barbarians them, Jesus Christ is the center of all time and
history.
At the time of Clovis, many of the Christian
barbarians are Arian Christians and very hostile to
the Catholic Church.
During this period, monasteries play a significant role
in bringing harmony to Christian life. The monks are
also responsible for the conversion of many
barbarians.
In 496 a political development with enormous
significance for the Church is the rise to power and
eventual conversion of Clovis, King of the Franks.
The Franks are a pagan and brutal tribe in what is
now Northern Europe. Unlike most other barbarian
tribes, the Franks have no connection with Christianity. Clovis marries Clotilda, a devout Catholic
princess. Initially, he resists becoming a Christian,
but like Constantine, Clovis believes that the
Christian God helped him to win a very important
battle. He decides to convert to Christianity believing
that the Christian God is more powerful than the
pagan gods.
Justinian, the last strong emperor (527-­‐565) While the Western Empire crumbles during the fifth
century, the Eastern Empire (now called the
Byzantine Empire, its original name) continues to
exist and remains relatively strong especially under
the leadership of the Emperor Justinian in the sixth
century. His main legacy or most significant
achievement is the reform of civil law. Most of the
existing laws in the Empire had been written in preChristian times and did not reflect Christian values.
The new Justinian Code which has taken seven years
to write removes much of the arbitrary power that a
man had over his wife and children. A father can no
longer send his children into slavery to pay debts.
Women can now hold property in their own name.
Women are protected from being easily divorced by
their husbands. Admittedly, some of the punishments
specified by the code for certain crimes are
dreadful—not what we would consider Christian—
such as the cutting off of hands and ears. Like all
law, the Justinian Code is based in part on the
customs of the time. Despite its problems, however,
it better reflects Christian ethics than the old laws
had.
In those days, as the king goes, so go his subjects. So
when Clovis is baptized, so are three thousand of his
soldiers. Some historians call this the “paganizing of
Christianity.” As bishop Remi is baptizing Clovis, he
says to him: “Burn what you have adored and adore
what you burned.” As Clovis works his way south
into what is now France, Catholic Christianity
spreads throughout the tribes that have been Arian.
Gradually, because of Clovis, Arian Christianity
begins to die out in the Western part of the Empire.
Carl Koch writes:
The conversion of Clovis and the Franks had
monumental significance for the rise of what is called
Christendom, that is, Christianity as the dominant
organizational and cultural force in society. This was
because in the centuries after Clovis, the Frankish
kings so enmeshed the church in governmental affairs
that church and state were hardly distinguishable
from each other. This arrangement enabled the
church to grow in number, but it often compromised
the church as well. (A Popular History of the Church,
Persecution of Jews. Carl Koch writes:
Although based in Christianity, Justinian’s rule was
not without ruthless elements. The emperor, like
many rulers in the pre-Christian era, believed he was
responsible for the religion of his subjects. He
believed in Christianity, so everyone else should too;
thus all would go to heaven. Because of this
conviction, Justinian persecuted Jews, other nonChristians, and heretics.
p.98)
Around the time of Clovis’ conversion, a new
calendar is devised at the direction of the pope.
Eventually, it will replace the calendar that has been
used in the Roman Empire for hundreds of years.
Instead of counting the years from the founding of
Rome, the new calendar reckons years beginning
from the presumed date of the birth of Christ.
Christians accept this calendar as a reminder that for
Prejudice toward Jews and persecution of them was
common throughout Christianity at the time Justinian
and the Frankish kings demanded that Jews convert.
But the rulers also depended on the Jews to provide
to Christians those services that Christians were
forbidden to provide, such as usury, which is the
lending of money with a charge for interest. Jews
were forced into moneylending as an occupation
2 because it was illegal for them to own land or
participate in many other professions. Besides,
Christians needed and wanted loans. But at the same
time, Jews were scorned for participating in financial
professions and were subjected to torture and
sometimes death by the society that benefited from
their financial services. (ibid, p.99)
imperial court, Gregory gladly returns to Rome.
When a plague breaks out in Rome in 589, the pope
dies and the people of Rome elects Gregory as the
new pope, a job he does not want. In fact, he hides
for three days hoping the people would find someone
else. So Gregory, like Ambrose, gives a very
reluctant ‘yes’ to the top church position. He is the
first monk to be elected pope. As pope, Gregory the
Great is a social worker, pastor, theologian, educator,
administrator, farmer, and builder. He is a rare person
who functioned well in all of those roles.
An emperor in control of the Church. Carl Koch
continues:
Justinian thought that in addition to persecuting nonChristians, it was his duty to tell the church what to
do and what to believe. Once he even kept the pope
under arrest in Constantinople. Justinian made
regulations for electing bishops and ordered them to
supervise public works projects, enforce laws related
to morals, and take care of orphans. In some
districts, the bishops, given so many secular
responsibilities, had more authority than the
governors. (ibid p.99)
Helper of the poor. For the poor, the Church is the
only welfare agency in existence. Using the profits
from farms owned by the Church, Gregory feeds
many poor people. Profits from farms also help him
rebuild crumbling churches and build new ones. He
takes responsibility for repairing the walls of the city
as well, a task that is needed for the defense of Rome.
Church educator. Carl Koch writes:
Gregory the Great (540-­‐604) As the leader of the church at large, Gregory showed
concern for the poorly educated clergy. Priests of the
time were chosen by local rulers or townsfolk, often
for political, rather than spiritual, reasons. Gregory
encouraged bishops to open schools for men wanting
to become priests. In turn, he expected that the
priests would open church schools for children. (The
church schools, along with the monastery schools,
were the only sources of education for the laity.)
Gregory also advocated priestly celibacy, though he
did not require it. Gregory wrote many letters
covering many topics such as the Bible, the duties of
pastors, and the proper way to celebrate the liturgy.
Nine hundred of his letters are still preserved in
libraries. (ibid, 106-107)
Pope Gregory I is one of two popes to receive the
title “Great” and, as we shall see, he deserves it. He
is sometimes called the last of the “Latin Fathers of
the Church” and the “first medieval pope.” Gregory
is born into a wealthy, influential Christian Roman
family in a city that is in shambles and chaos. The
last half of the sixth century in the Western Empire is
later called the “Dark Ages” for several reasons, one
of them owing to the chaos that existed since the
barbarian tribes took over Italy and many parts of
Europe.
As a young man, Gregory is named prefect of Rome,
serving as governor, chief of police and chief justice.
It is also his duty to figure out ways to distribute food
to the poor in Rome and in southern Italy.
Liturgical music. The first Christians learn Jewish
hymns by heart; later they learn Roman and Greek
hymns. But without sheet music, melodies are not
easily passed on to future generations. In Gregory’s
time, psalms and hymns sung in monasteries later
evolve into Gregorian Chants, a beautiful form of
sacred music that will nourish the faith of the Church
in the West for centuries.
In his mid-thirties, after his father’s death, Gregory
suddenly resigns his position and gives away much of
his family’s estate to help the poor. He turns the
family mansion into a monastery and founds several
other monasteries on family property in other parts of
Italy. Gregory adopts the lifestyle of a monk.
Convertor of the barbarians. Carl Koch writes:
In 579, Gregory’s quiet contemplative lifestyle is
disrupted when the pope calls him to Rome as a
deacon. Then the pope sends him to Byzantium (new
name for Constantinople) as his personal ambassador
to seek military help from the emperor and help for
the poor of Rome. After seven years in the corrupt
Like Pope Leo the Great, who restrained Attila the
Hun through persuasion, Gregory had to be a
diplomat. In effect, the pope had to take the place of
the government. Accordingly, Gregory negotiated
with and sent missionaries to the Lombards and other
3 barbarian tribes. The church had chosen to try to
make alliances with the barbarian tribes and convert
them, rather than resist them. That decision made all
the difference for the development of Christendom in
the West, for gradually all the barbarian tribes would
be converted and the whole of what is now Europe
would be solidly Christian. (ibid p.107)
care of external matters. (The Popes—Histories and
Secrets, p.106)
Commenting on Gregory’s papacy, Kevin Hughes
writes:
Gregory’s pontificate marks the clearest point at
which, almost by default, the See of Peter begins to
carry both temporal and spiritual authority in the
western world. The pontificate of Gregory was the
first stage in the centralization of authority and
influence in the papal office that was to be one of the
hallmarks of the medieval world.
Missionaries to Britain. Gregory not only seeks to
bring the Gospel to the Lombards and other tribes in
Italy, he also sends forty monks from his own
Benedictine monastery in Rome to Britain. The
monks are led by their abbot, Augustine of
Canterbury, who has great success in England.
Unlike many of the other barbarian tribes, whose
members are baptized under the orders of their kings
and chieftains, the “fierce” Anglo-Saxons come
voluntarily into the Church. However, it takes about
a hundred years before the whole of Britain is
Christianized.
But Gregory’s influence did not extend simply to the
bureaucratic development of the medieval papacy. To
later medieval men, he was “our beloved Gregory,”
the last of the Latin Fathers. Gregory had the heart
of a contemplative, but he knew all too well that the
needs of others often required that the contemplative
life be integrated with the active life of service. He is
one of the first great defenders of this “mixed life” of
action and contemplation. (Church History—Faith
Commenting on Pope Gregory’s impact on the
Church, Carl Koch writes:
Handed, p.44)
Gregory the Great’s contributions to the church were
enormous and far-reaching in their effects. His
leadership solidified the church in a time of
tremendous calamity. Even so he humbly saw himself
as “Servant of the Servants of God,” a title that all
popes since him have adopted.
Rise of Islam and its consequences for Christianity While Pope Gregory is exercising leadership in the
West, a new and powerful force is gathering strength
in the East, around the Red Sea, i.e., a new religion
called Islam whose followers become known as
Muslims, both terms referring to “submission to
God.”
Most of Gregory’s efforts were expended on the
Western part of the church because the West was
more strife-torn than the East. The West was afflicted
by nomadic invasions, widespread disease, and a
babble of languages that prevented communication.
Latin had become virtually unknown by the common
people, and dialects were developing that would later
become Italian, Spanish, French, and German. (ibid,
In 610 an Arabian merchant, Mohammed (570-632),
has a conversion experience. Mohammed claims that
the angel Gabriel visited him and gave him a series of
revelations which his followers recorded in the Koran
(Qur’an). Mohammed lives in Mecca for ten years
after his conversion, teaching and developing his
faith, but in 622, he and his followers meet
persecution. Their flight, called the Hegira, is the
event that marks the first year of the Muslim era.
Mohammed raises an army there and returns to
Mecca as a triumphant warrior. The new religion
spreads like wildfire across the Arabian Desert.
p.108)
Gregory the Great personifies the image of a saintly
Church leader. He truly exemplifies his own
description of a Church leader which he himself
speaks about in these words.
The true shepherd of souls is pure in his thoughts,
fearless in his deeds, wise in silence, fluent in
speaking. He approaches everyone with charity and
compassion, surpasses all by his relationship with
God, joining humbly with those who do good works,
but rises up in zealous justice against the vices of
sinners. In his external functions he does not neglect
matters of the soul, neither does he neglect to take
After Mohammed’s death in 632, his early successors
spread the Islamic faith through previous Christian
areas like Damascus (635) Antioch (637) Syria and
Jerusalem (638) Palestine and Alexandria (642),
Carthage (695), Northern Africa and Persia (650),
Cyprus, southern Italy, and even parts of Spain (711).
A war-weary, collapsing Empire is virtually defense4 less against the onslaughts of Islam. The Muslims are
on their way to overrunning France until they
encounter Charles Martel, a warrior king. As we
shall see in the next article, Charles’s son (Pepin) and
especially his grandson Charlemagne will play a huge
role in both the secular and religious history of the
Western Empire in the eighth and ninth centuries.
Although Muslims in general do not force their
vanquish peoples to convert, they impose taxes on the
“infidels” (non-believers). This is incentive enough
for many Christians to embrace Islam, especially in
the East.
The Islamic invasion has enormous consequences for
Christianity. The three ancient patriarchates of
Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandra fall. As a result,
their influence in the Church ceases. The Eastern
Empire is continually occupied with fending off the
advancing Muslims. Michael Pennock writes:
Muslims became the adversaries of Christians for the
next seven centuries. It took several centuries for
Christians to pull out of the Dark Ages. Eventually,
Christianity launched a series of holy wars, the
Crusades, to win back the Holy Land. Though the
Muslim invasions were a major setback for
Christianity, Muslim scholarship helped preserve
ancient Greek learning. Scholars like Avicenna (Ibn
Sina, 980-1037) and Averroës (Ibn Rushd, 11261198) helped introduce the philosophy of Aristotle to
the West. During the High Middle Ages, theologians
like St. Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas
would use Aristotelean philosophy to advance
Catholic philosophical and theological thought.
(This is our Church, p.89)
Reflection questions 1. What struck you most in this article?
2. In what ways do people in our time or in the recent
past act like barbarians?
3. What are some of the qualities that you especially
look for in a pope?
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